[jroo]

Food Ideas:

• Blended foods are easy to carry with you, like green smoothies. Reuse some glass jars with good lids; two nut butter jars can hold a quart of smoothie. They taste better when refrigerated, but even if not cold, they should last the better part of a day.
• Depending on your body type, 3-5 T of ground flax, and 1-2 T of coconut oil may cover most of your fat for a day. Coconut oil is a little expensive, but a lb. should last quite a while. Flax costs anywhere from $1.50 to 3.50 a lb., but it also lasts a while. Add either or both to your smoothies to slow sugar absorption (depending on your philosophy of food combining) and keep you satisfied longer.
• I really like Buckwheat cereal. I can get buckwheat groats for about $1.70 per pound and it expands 2x it's size, so that's about $.85 a pound. Soak 1 cup overnight (or 15 min and sprout 24 hours), 1 banana, and 1T cinnamon. Blend in food processor.
• Carry plenty of cut up veggies: carrots, celery, peppers...
• Homemade Green Goddess dressing is a good way to stretch an avocado. It makes enough dressing for several salads.
• Try using sunflower seeds instead of more expensive nuts in pates and recipes.
• Sunflower milk is good, and you can take it with you. You'll need to invest in (or make) a nut milk bag. I make about 8 cups of milk using 2/3 to 1 cup of sunflower seeds, some honey, and some salt.
• Sprouts are great. They can add zest to a salad, and they're cheap. Some people consume large quantities of sprouts daily.
• Look for cheaper greens for your smoothies. Often the more nutritious (but harder to chew) varieties are cheaper, because there's less demand for them. Try rotating what you use every couple weeks (for variety and for nutrition).

Money Saving Ideas:

• Start a buyers club. Frontier Naturals or Wilderness Family Naturals let you sign up as a wholesaler, and you can usually get free shipping with large orders. You may even find other health conscious students who will order with you. Order a several month supply of non-perishables (if you can swing it) and just keep stuff stored well.
• Find a co-op in your area. Many will let you shop there without a membership. There's one about 45 minutes from us, that I get to about once a month that has good prices on bulk foods. Their packaged stuff is more expensive, so I get that elsewhere.
• Never buy your spices in jars, if you can help it. Bulk is cheaper by 5x or more.
• Go in with someone on a share in an organic farm (CSA).
• Start a Square Foot Garden. Two 4x4 sections should give you lots of salad veggies. You can adapt the principles for smaller spaces like porches and window boxes.
• Save the edible, but undesirable scraps from your greens and veggies for smoothies and dressings.
• Learn to forage for wild edibles. There are days
  in the spring where I can make an entire smoothie out of greens from my backyard.